Improvement in key-boards for musical instruments



2She ets--SheeH. M. H MCC H ESN EY.

Key-Board for Musical Instruments.

No. 161,806. Patented April 6,1875.

n I l THE GRAPHIC C0.PHOTO --L TH.39&4 Y PARK PLACE, NY

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MARTIN H. MGOHESNEY, OF PONTIAC, MICHIGAN.

IMPROVEMENT lN KEY-BOARDS FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 161,806, dated April 6, 1875; application filed October 21, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MARTIN H. MOOHEs- NEY, of Pontiac, in the county of Oakland and State of Michigan, have invented an In1- provement in Key-Boards for Musical Instruments, of which the following is a specification:

The first part of my invention relates to an improvement in the construction and arrangement of thekey-board of a musical instrument, whereby the manipulation of the keys is rendered much easier than on the ordinary keyboard; and it consists in the arrangement of the keys, all being uniform in size and shape, in two banks, those of the lower bank having a raised playing part behind and above the keys of the second key-board, giving the appearance of a third bank, while, in fact, the key-board is that of a singlebank instrument.

The second part of my invention relates to the inclination of the playing-surface of the keys backward, the highest point being nearest the performer, when properly seated at the instrument. By this arrangement or inclination of the surface of the key the ends of the finger-nails will not come in contact with it, and the hand is allowed to assume a more natural and correct position.

Figure 1, Sheet 1, is a sectional perspective view, showing the upper end of my improved key-board. Fig. 2 is a cross-section. Fig. 3 is a plan of a portion of the keys and action. Fig. 4, Sheet 2, is a side elevation of a lower key and its playing'surfaces, showing the position of the players hand. Fig. 5 is a plan of one octave of the key-board, the keys bein g lettered.

In the drawing, K represents the keys of the lower or first bank, mounted on the front ends of the action-levers L. The rear ends of the keys K have a raised playing-surface, K behind, and on a higher plane than the keys K of the second bank, which are mounted on their action-levers intermediately between the keys K. The surfaces KK ,itis evident, will strike the same note when either of said surfaces is struck. The surfaces of all the keys are inclined, as shown in Figs. 2 and 4, for the reason hereinbefore given. The keys next the key-blocks at the ends of the key-board are necessarily wider than the others, alternately, in the three banks, in order to close up gaps which would occur at the ends of the keyboard, if they were uniform in width with the others.

In my invention the surface shape of all the keys of the keyboard is the same, therein differing from the surface shape of the keys in the ordinary key-boards, inasmuch as the lastnamed are of two dilferent shapes--viz., wide keys, which are white and contiguous to each other, and narrow keys, which are black and are not contiguous, but are separated by the white keys.

In my invention every key presenting the same surface shape and width renders the touch more uniform, secure, and certain. My arrangement of the keys is such that each bank contains both white and black keys the white keys representing the socalled naturals, and the black keys the so-called flats and sharps, as shown in Fig. 5.

The upper and lower key-banks K K being permanently connected, the letters 0, D, E, F-sharp, G-sharp, A-sharp, and G of the mnsical alphabet are contiguous, both banks being alike. The middle bank contains the contiguous letters, B, G-sharp, D-sharp, 1*,G, A, and B.

By this arrangement of the musical alphabet any musical form whatsoever-a scale, an arpeggio, a chord, or a melody-can be executed by the same manipulation of the hand, in any key orsignature. Each major scale is thus rendered a duplicate of each other major scale, each minor scale is rendered a duplicate of every other minor scale, and each chord is rendered a duplicate of every other chord of like component parts.

With the keyboard heretofore in common use, each scale demands a different manipulation of the hand, different positions and extensions of the fingers.

If the learning of one scalebe called a study, then the learning of twelve scales will require the learning of twelve studies, each requiring a different manipulation. The learning of the twelve minor scales will require the learning of twelve more studies, each different from the other.

Upon my key-board the twelve major scales,

being all manipulated and fingered alike, will demand the learning'of but one study, and so with the minor scales; and if any passage or piece of music be played in a certain key, and then be transposed to any other key, all the movements ofthe hands and fingers required to execute the piece before transposition will be required to execute it after transposition, the manipulations being exactly the same in every detail.

By my arrangement of the keys all musical forms are made simpler and more systematic, and the student is enabled to become an expert performer in less than one-fifth the time that has heretofore been required, while in no 

